Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens – Orpheum Theatre Vancouver – October 28, 2010

Tonight I got my first Sufjan Stevens (pronounced soof-yahn) live experience at the Orpheum Theatre. His melodic voice was perfect for a beautiful auditorium that was designed for live performances. His angelic vocal styliings contradicted the rather melancholy topics of his music, which he explained was mostly new for this concert and was centred around internal emotions, physical and mental illness and heart sickness. Although these subjects might be enough to put a damper on the evening, his lighthearted and good natured banter between sets made sure the show wasn’t too pessimistic. Even when telling the tragic tale of Royal Robertson, who was the inspiration of the song “Get Real, Get Right”, it managed to stay interesting and light. Being that most of these were new songs, no one knew them but that didn’t keep people from shouting out their affection for Sufjan. It wasn’t until two thirds of the way into the show that people got up to dance, including Sufjan and his two back up singers / dancer. They really brought the house down and the mood up with their dance moves on the final song of the nearly two hour main set. After a short, equally entertaining encore of mostly older songs did the audience have something to hum along to on the way home. This may have been my first time watching Sufjan Stevens but I certainly hope it won’t be the last?